The Sauna

When we bought our house, there were several outbuildings scattered throughout the property. There was the old sheep barn that was collapsing in beyond repair, there was an aluminum shed, a quirky wood shed, a pole barn, the barn with the guest quarters, and the sauna (pictured above).

The old sheep barn, the aluminum shed and the quirky wood shed all got hauled away to the rebuild it center. The rest we kept, including the sauna.



I'll give you a quick tour. It's a small two room sauna that reminds me of the old rustic camps I use to visit in Maine.



I can tell you that Hubby was beyond thrilled when he discovered this building on our first tour of the property and imagined sitting in here after a long day of skiing. The above room is the changing room and has lots of old vintage towel racks, old hooks, a little vanity and benches to sit on.



Even Lucy was excited about the sauna. Here she is taking in the ambiance of the old steam room. Aren't the benches classic? And see the old shower faucet hanging from the cross beam?



But Hubby's dream came to a screeching halt when the house inspector warned us that the above water tank was a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode. In other words, don't use the sauna in its current incarnation - ever.

Hubby had ideas to update the system but when we realized that all of the wood in the steam room had been coated with urethane, we knew we'd have to reside the whole interior as to not get high on toxic fumes. The charred wall was also a deterrent - obviously the barrel stove was a fire hazard.

So it sat.



Until one day a couple of winters ago, we put my old treadmill in the changing area and started using the space as a workout room. And that's when we decided that the building would serve us much better as a home gym than a sauna.

Let me just say that we're not gym people. We know this because we bought gym memberships a year ago this month and pretty much never went. This was mostly due to the inconvenience of driving into town all the time. When we did go, all we used were the treadmill (which I had at home) and the elliptical machine (which we just bought).

So instead of renewing our very costly gym membership, we've decided to use the funds to create a home gym, conveniently located within walking distance from the house. We'll be tearing out the wall in the middle in order to create a large one room space so that both the treadmill and the elliptical machine will fit side by side. These will go where the steam benches are now.

We'll insulate the vaulted ceiling, perhaps add a sink since there's already an existing water line, and paint everything white. We have some extra tongue and groove flooring left over from the porch, which we'll use to cover up the concrete floor. We'll paint the floors historic gray as they already have primer on them. We also plan to replace the plywood door with the old french exterior door we removed from the main house.

So that's the plan but I can't say for sure when the cosmetic stuff will happen! But I'll keep you posted!

AFTER PHOTOS HERE!

Sauna in Disrepair Turned Fitness Studio - Final Look

This little outbuilding used to be an old sauna. It was not functional when we bought the property. Rumor had it that it had almost burnt down several years back, and the makeshift stove, water heater and plumbing could only by described as 'a little scary' to borrow a sentiment from our home inspector. 

Below are the before photos of the interior after an initial clean. 

Classic varnished wood paneling.

Concrete floor. 

Hollow core veneer door. 

The back room had a nice tall vaulted ceiling. 

It also had a big concrete block with an old oil barrel turned wood stove in it, and the aforementioned plumbing, all of which Mike removed. 

We transformed the interior in a few phases over the years, but first we painted the pine paneling with Simply White by Benjamin Moore. We had some left over flooring from the wraparound porch that we used to install fir floors, which we recently painted platinum grey by Benjamin Moore. 

The blinds were also a recent addition. 

Mike used the old steam room benches to make shelves in the front room. 

He also insulated the ceiling in the vaulted room and added bead board over it. 

It's not pictured here, but the light in this room was rewired to go overhead with a small schoolhouse fixture. 

Our one and only TV, on which we play DVDs. 

The new Simpson door adds a lot of charm to the building. 

It goes nicely with the original six pane casement window. 

You can see my previous posts on the old sauna here and here. 

This post shows our last update last year. 

The Sauna Turned Gym, etc.

We're at a stopping point with our renovation of the old sauna. Left to do is paint the fir floors grey - glad some of you like the unfinished look! We're holding off on this task until summer when we won't be using it as much...when we reconvene our evening walks.

Go here to see before pictures!



I am so excited about the new shelves! Hubby recycled these from the old sauna benches he removed. The old table, which weighs a ton, is a gorgeous handmade table that came with the property. It's been tucked away in the barn so we thought we'd finally put it to use.

I'm really happy with what Hubby did with the table and shelves as it's going to provide some much needed storage for a project I'm working on!

I dug out this great old basket I had down in our basement. I picked it up several months ago but found it to be a bit over sized to use for laundry.

And oh yes, the gym!!! Not all that pretty but serving us very well now that the place has been spruced up a bit.

The large wood mirror is something I bought at an auction in Maine many years ago. It was one of my very first antique purchases. I've strategically used it to cover up the hole from the old medicine cabinet that was there.

Here's the outside facade. I'm really anxious to get a new door...which style do you like best?

Option A, except in white, is a classic style French door. I think this would be a more casual look.

Option B, also in white, is more of a traditional front door and I'm wondering if it would make this little outbuilding look more like a sweet little cottage.

What do you think?

The Exterior of the Old Sauna

BEFORE PICTURES

This is a picture of the property when we purchased it. Buried in the overgrown yard was a little outbuilding (which I've circled) that the previous owners used as a sauna. 

This was the desert phase of our remodel! The renovations on the main house were mostly complete by then, leaving the arduous task of bringing the yard back to life. 

Here it is after we seeded the grass. I also had just planted an Endless Summer hydrangea under the little window. 

This is a closeup of the front facade, before we renovated the interior. 

You can see inside the old sauna here. 

AFTER PHOTOS

This is one of those projects that will probably be ongoing. But it's looking a little happier since we installed a new wood door (the old door was a hollow core laminate version from the 70's). 

Thanks to so many of your suggestions, we loved the idea of installing a Dutch door but it was out of our price range (over $1,000). So we went with a wood-paned door from Simpson (the same company that made the rest of our doors), which was less than $300. 

We also removed the metal awning, which highlights the building's desperate need of a fresh coat of paint (the ongoing part...). 

The front bed has an Endless Summer hydrangea and a climbing clematis. We planted a mature boxwood on the corner for some winter color, and a hedge of Limelight hydrangea along the side. 

In the top photo, you can see an Incrediball hydrangea at the left of the frame. There are three Penny Mac hydrangeas to the left of the Incrediball (out of the frame). 

The Limelight are very happy here. They were transplanted from a front bed by the house, where they received too much sun for their liking. Here they enjoy a mix of sun and shade.

We're so glad that we had this little outbuilding shingled when we re-roofed our house. It was one of those spur of the moment decisions that paid off - otherwise who knows how long it would have taken us to get around to it!

A Love of Hydrangeas

I brought home a bouquet of cut hydrangeas the other day. 

It's made me think of all the hydrangeas I've planted in the garden. 

I've planted twelve varieties over the past several years. 

I just love them.

There's the Limelight and Mini Limelights that surround our dining patio. 

We also planted a hedge of Limelights along the old sauna building. 

My favorite varieties are those that express this wonderful lavender-blue hue. 

Nikko Blue, Endless Summer, Penny Pac...are all dependable for this coloring in their blossoms. 

This bed of Little Lamb hydrangea are under the windows at the east end of the dining room. 

Hydrangeas (hydro) are named for their love and need of lots of water. If your cut bouquets start to fade, give them a nice cool bath and they will brighten up. It's wonderful to watch. 

Endless Summer. 

This variety blooms all summer long. A few more examples of their blossoms follow below. 

Endless Summer. 

Endless Summer. 

Endless Summer. 

This hydrangea bed has mostly Endless Summer, with a mix of pinks and blues. 

They were so small (one gallon pots and smaller) when we planted them. 

It's amazing to see them so big now. 

You can see a large Nikko Blue blossom in the back corner. 

Classic Nikko Blue. 

They are all so brilliant in color. 

The north facing hydrangea bed has a wonderful view of the valley. 

This Pee Gee hydrangea is in the front bed which receives a lot of sun throughout the day. Pee Gee is a sun tolerant variety so I planted several of them. 

I also planted some Pee Gee's in front of the dining room windows (on left). As you can see, they look a lot like the Little Lamb hydrangeas underneath the east facing dining room windows (on right). 

Here they are again from the porch. 

Hydrangeas have been a wonderful addition to our gardens. They have thrived in our Pacific Northwest environment (we are in Zone 5). 

Also, the deer have never bothered them and unlike the roses, we've never had to treat them for anything (fungus, pests, etc.). 

They are amazingly low maintenance. 

They just need water. 

I hope to plant some of these favorite hydrangeas at our new home. I'll have to wait and see what zone we end up in!